What if the next step in preventing fatty liver disease could come from the sea? The Alga-Care project is investigating whether bioactive compounds from microalgae could help protect the liver from fat accumulation, oxidation, and damage. This VLAIO-funded intercluster project is supported by both Biovia and De Blauwe Cluster, uniting biomedical expertise and marine biology for a potential One Health solution.
What if obesity was not only about how much you eat? A new study in mice suggests that a small motor protein hidden inside the cell nucleus may help decide whether fat tissue ages healthily or quietly turns sick. Lose this protein, and the body's fat get bigger even when the diet never changes — a twist that may carry lessons far beyond the lab.
Over 60% of European soils are considered unhealthy, threatening our food, water, and climate. Yet the knowledge needed to restore them exists — it is just inaccessible and underused, scattered across hundreds of databases and institutions. The SoilWise project is changing that by building a one-stop-shop for soil data that anyone can access and build upon. Because to save our soils, we first need to find our data.
Imagine if your body could send out warning signals before you even feel ill. No pain, fever, or obvious symptoms, yet at a biological level, something may already be changing. New research suggests that exposure to harmful substances can sometimes be detected much earlier than previously thought — not through visible symptoms, but through subtle changes in how our genes are regulated. By learning how to read these early signals, scientists hope to improve prevention, protect people in high-risk workplaces, and act before health problems develop.
Belgium has strong biobanks, but many still experience the system as fragmented and hard to navigate when conducting biomedical research. Experts in Belgium are arguing that we need to treat biobanks as shared infrastructure — data-rich platforms with predictable access, sustainable funding, and governance built around patient trust.
Big pharma may be powerful, profitable, and global, but it cannot rely on scale alone to secure the future of medicine. As patents expire and blockbuster revenues decline, pharmaceutical companies increasingly depend on biotech startups to generate new ideas, products, and platforms. Yet many early-stage biotechs are struggling to raise the capital they need to survive. If that trend persists, the consequences will reach far beyond startups — weakening pharma pipelines and delaying future health solutions for patients.
What if the next step in preventing fatty liver disease could come from the sea? The Alga-Care project is investigating whether bioactive compounds from microalgae could help protect the liver from fat accumulation, oxidation, and damage. This VLAIO-funded intercluster project is supported by both Biovia and De Blauwe Cluster, uniting biomedical expertise and marine biology for a potential One Health solution.
What if obesity was not only about how much you eat? A new study in mice suggests that a small motor protein hidden inside the cell nucleus may help decide whether fat tissue ages healthily or quietly turns sick. Lose this protein, and the body's fat get bigger even when the diet never changes — a twist that may carry lessons far beyond the lab.
Over 60% of European soils are considered unhealthy, threatening our food, water, and climate. Yet the knowledge needed to restore them exists — it is just inaccessible and underused, scattered across hundreds of databases and institutions. The SoilWise project is changing that by building a one-stop-shop for soil data that anyone can access and build upon. Because to save our soils, we first need to find our data.
Imagine if your body could send out warning signals before you even feel ill. No pain, fever, or obvious symptoms, yet at a biological level, something may already be changing. New research suggests that exposure to harmful substances can sometimes be detected much earlier than previously thought — not through visible symptoms, but through subtle changes in how our genes are regulated. By learning how to read these early signals, scientists hope to improve prevention, protect people in high-risk workplaces, and act before health problems develop.
Belgium has strong biobanks, but many still experience the system as fragmented and hard to navigate when conducting biomedical research. Experts in Belgium are arguing that we need to treat biobanks as shared infrastructure — data-rich platforms with predictable access, sustainable funding, and governance built around patient trust.
Big pharma may be powerful, profitable, and global, but it cannot rely on scale alone to secure the future of medicine. As patents expire and blockbuster revenues decline, pharmaceutical companies increasingly depend on biotech startups to generate new ideas, products, and platforms. Yet many early-stage biotechs are struggling to raise the capital they need to survive. If that trend persists, the consequences will reach far beyond startups — weakening pharma pipelines and delaying future health solutions for patients.